Post-Election Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg’s office just sent out a transcript of a statement he delivered at the budget hearing today congratulating Barack Obama on his election last night.

His tone about the presidential result was positive, but from a transactional point of view, yesterday's elections were a mixed bag for the mayor.

Two congressional candidates he endorsed in competitive races did not win.

(UPDATE: As the mayor's press office points out, six of the nine candidates he endorsed in House or Senate races won. This line, phrased more broadly in the original post, refers to two competitive House races in which his candidates lost, including Republican incumbent Chris Shays of Connecticut, who the mayor campaigned for personally. The mayor also endorsed what looks to be a successful proposition in California to reform legislative redistricting, and supported an anti-gun violence 527 group that targeted five Republican incumbents. The three targeted for defeat lost, and the two who were supported won re-election.)

His Republican Senate allies in Albany lost their majority. And unlike just about every other official in liberal New York City, Bloomberg sat resolutely on the fence throughout the presidential campaign that culminated in the historic, overwhelming victory for Obama.

“Having Democrats in the majority, that might very well have an impact on the legislative priorities that the mayor has,” said Assemblyman Karim Camara, a Democrat from Brooklyn, when asked about the effect of the Democratic takeover of the State Senate on the mayor's political strength. “There are a lot of people who have an adversarial relationship with the mayor, both rank-and-file members and the leadership.”

Camara, an early Obama supporter, did say that he thought Bloomberg wouldn't be penalized too severely for not having come out for either presidential candidate.

“Because of the pivotal role New York City plays in the economy, anybody who is president will have a relationship, or at least an ongoing dialogue, with the mayor of New York City,” he said.

Anyway, here's Bloomberg's statement on Obama:

STATEMENT BY MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG

ON PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA’S VICTORY

The Mayor’s statement as delivered before today’s November Financial Plan update follows:

“Let me first begin by offering my congratulations to President-Elect Obama. This is clearly a historic day for America and a great day because I think it shows how far our country has come.

“Senator Obama’s victory is built on those who struggled and died for civil rights over the past two centuries and it was built on the hard work of his millions of supporters, including one that we miss very much here, Terence Tolbert. But it’s a great tribute to Terence that Senator Obama carried Nevada, where he was working. And the last time I was out in Nevada two months ago I met with Terence and he was so proud of the work that he was doing and so optimistic and it’s just a great tragedy that he didn’t live to see the fruition of his great dreams and all his work.

“Senator Obama ran on the idea of uplifting this country and moving us forward, and all of us have a responsibility now that the election is over to help him do that because we face some very difficult times ahead. But I think you are going to see this country pull together – both major parties and all of those in the middle. Democracy has worked, we’ve spoken, we’ve picked a new leader, and we should all do everything we can to help him tackle the difficult problems that face us all. I think during the campaign both Senator Obama and Senator McCain tried to address those issues; it is very difficult to do where you only have a few seconds in a press conference or a meeting or have to do it in a stump speech.

“Now Senator Obama has to do the hard work of making difficult decisions and leading our Congress and being the head of mainly the only superpower left in this world, and we have an obligation to help people. And I think he’s more than up to the task, and I think we’re going to be very pleased. But he cannot do it alone and it’s incumbent on all of us to help him.”